Influence of cigarette smoking on the spirometric evaluation of employees of a large insurance company.

Abstract

SUMMARy _ Forced expiratory spirograms were performed on 1,059 healthy employees of a large insurance company coincident with their routine, periodic, health evaluation. Reliable prediction equations for forced vital capacity and forced expiratory volume in one second, based on multiple regression analysis, were derived for this healthy population representative of white-collar workers residing and working in a large metropolitan area. Cigarette smoking among men was associated with lower forced vital capacity and forced expira­ tory volume in one second, and the level of cigarette smoking was related to the impairment of spirometric function. The data suggested reversibility of this impairment on cessation of cigarette smoking. Among women, there was little difference in forced vital capacity and forced expiratory volume in one second between current cigarette smokers and those who had never smoked cigarettes. The younger, female ex-smokers exhibited greater forced vital capacities and forced expiratory volumes in one second than those of younger, female nonsmokers; however, these differences disappeared rapidly with advancing age.